NBN Co sale may not have expected effect, says TransACT architect

16 Jul 2018

The privatisation of NBN Co sometime in the future may well end up creating a similar situation like that in the 1990s, when the introduction of new players like Optus and the privatisation of Telstra did not bring about the level of investment needed to keep Australia's infrastructure in pace with growing digital needs, especially in regional areas, a network expert says.

Robin Eckermann, who led the creation of TransACT and served as its chief architect during the 2000-2003 network rollout, said on Monday that the government's creation of NBN Co to lead the implementation of upgraded network infrastructure could, in some ways, be seen as an admission that the strategy implemented in the 1990s had failed.

The first "end-to-end multi-vendor non-standalone (NSA) 3GPP 5G commercial network data call over licensed 3.5GHz spectrum" has been made at Telstra 5G Innovation Centre on Australia's Gold Coast, billed as the first "true" 5G call in a real world environment.

Ericsson, Telstra and Intel say they have "successfully completed the first end-to-end 5G non-standalone (NSA) 3GPP data call on a commercial mobile network at Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast Australia in a multivendor setup".

With this achievement, the companies have taken 5G out of the lab and into a real-world mobile network environment.

Govt sets buyer limits for 5G spectrum

Australia’s mobile telcos hoping for a slice of prime 5G spectrum will have their existing holdings assessed to determine how much extra they can own.

Much like the 700MHz and 2.5GHz digital dividend spectrum auctions for 4G, telcos will be limited in how much 3.6GHz spectrum they can own for forthcoming 5G services.

In preparation for an auction due to begin in late October, communications minister Mitch Fifield directed the Australian Communications and Media Authority “to impose allocation limits of 60 MHz in metropolitan areas and 80 MHz in regional areas.”

Telstra turns on LTE broadcast technology

Telstra has turned on LTE broadcast (LTE-B) technology throughout its network, enabling real-time data to be multicast to all users on a cell site instead of each user requiring a separate stream.

The main purpose of the technology is to minimise the network load of popular, bandwidth-intensive real-time video content, but it can also be used to distribute software updates, and for preloading of video content for later viewing.

Australians bought 9.2M smartphones last year

14 Jul 2018

Smartphone sales in Australia were up 11 per cent year-on-year in 2017, with 9.2 million units sold, according to the latest figures by industry research firm, Telsyte.

The Telsyte Australian Smartphone and Wearable Devices Market Study 2018 estimates that 4.8 million smartphones were sold in the second half of 2017 alone, up six per cent from the same period in 2016.

Australian smartphone growth in 2017 was driven by an Android replacement cycle, according to Telsyte. In fact, Android devices made up 55 per cent of all units sold during the period.

Overall, Telsyte suggests that there are now around 19.3 million smartphone users in Australia, most of which use Android phones. According to Telsyte’s estimates, 8.6 million Australians use iPhones and 10.3 million are Android users, while another 400,000 use other platforms.

TPG joins Telstra in showing NBN fixed wireless speeds

14 Jul 2018

Breaks out performance numbers.

TPG is the second major retail service provider to start breaking out “typical” evening peak speeds experienced by NBN fixed wireless users.

The company said that its “basic” NBN12 fixed wireless plans could achieve 11.2Mbps while its “standard” NBN25 fixed wireless plans could hit 20.3Mbps in the peak period of usage, which runs from 7pm to 11pm.

Best to sell NBN Co only a decade after rollout ends: expert

14 Jul 2018

The best option for NBN Co after 2022 — when the network rollout is completed — would be for the government to retain it for at least 10 years as that would bring it the most benefit from its investment, a network expert says.

In a paper outlining what could be done with the company that is rolling out Australia's national broadband network, the NBN, Dr Mark Gregory, an associate professor in network engineering at RMIT University, said that other options were:

-for NBN Co to be sold off as a single entity;
-for disaggregated technology footprints to be sold off separately; and
-for disaggregated technology footprints, excluding satellite and fixed wireless, to be sold off separately.

Hammer blow for Huawei as 5G ban looms in Australia

12 Jul 2018

Australia is preparing to ban Huawei Technologies from supplying equipment for its planned 5G broadband network after its intelligence agencies raised concerns that Beijing could force the Chinese telco to hand over sensitive data, two sources said.

Western intelligence agencies have for years raised concerns about Huawei's ties to the Chinese government and the possibility that its equipment could be used for espionage.

But there has never been any public evidence to support those suspicions.

Huawei, the world's largest maker of telecommunications network gear and the no.3 smartphone supplier, has promised that Canberra will have complete oversight of 5G network equipment, which could include base stations, towers and radio transmission equipment.